Don't miss the 41st Annual "Y" Sports Dinner featuring Drew Brees as keynote speaker and honouring Jeff Rabb and Arch Honigman.For more details: CLICK HERE
Yiddish and African American Music Meet in Celebration of Two Cultures
From the power of song to overcome persecution to the celebration of life through spiritual music, the African-American and Jewish people have many shared traditions. In the spirit of unity, we honour Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Paul Robeson, Benny Goodman, Cab Caloway and countless others who pioneered integration and cultural exchange. The concert is headlined by Elmore James, a veteran of five Broadway productions and numerous opera stages around the world; Tony Perry, a commanding young singer-actor; and Magda Fishman, Israeli singing sensation. English translation super titles will accompany all Yiddish songs.
Featuring Entertainer Allan Blye and Gray Academy Students Yiddish Choir
A Bisele Haimeshe Yiddish: A Little Homespun Yiddish showcases some of the best local contributions to Yiddish culture in Winnipeg. Back by popular demand will be the Gray Academy of Jewish Education Yiddish Choir.
Well-known former Winnipegger Allan Blye has a long-standing career as a Chazzan in broadcasting, producing and many aspects of the entertainment industry. Alan will be presenting an enjoyable Yiddish program at Mameloshen.
Canada’s first and original Klezmer group Finjan is about to start celebrating their 31st year making music. The three times Juno Award nominated band and Western Canadian Music Award winners are performing in their hometown of Winnipeg for Mameloshen this June. Since breaking onto the scene in 1982, Finjan has appeared in movies, documentaries and has toured all over North America and in Europe. Their five albums have received critical acclaim and are highly sought after. What makes this upcoming Winnipeg concert extra special is that Finjan has been on hiatus for the last few years and is excited to perform back in Winnipeg. Featuring Myron Schultz (clarinet), Victor Schultz (violin), Shayla Fink (accordion, voice), Kinzey Posen (bass, voice) and Daniel Koulack (guitar, mandolin, banjo).
After years of living apart from her dad, Libby, an introverted yet sharp-witted teenager, is sent to live with him in Israel. Her arrival coincides with the outbreak of the second Lebanon war. Libby quickly discovers that her dad, Shaul, is an infantile eccentric, and that he is 'in-between apartments' (in other words, homeless). Shaul comes up with a creative plan to put a roof over their heads - they pose as refugees from the bombarded northern region of Israel, and are taken in by a well-off family in Jerusalem. Finally in a 'normal' household, Shaul and Libby begin to build their father-daughter relationship, but their false identities can't last forever, especially as Libby unleashes teenage fury at the lies permeating her life; those she must tell now, and those she's been fed since childhood. This provocative coming-of-age feature tells of a growing father-daughter relationship against the backdrop of one of Israel’s most distressing times as a nation.
Israel/France, 2011
English, Hebrew with English subtitles
Director: Maya Kenig
85 minutes
Print Source: Film Movement
Award
Best Actor Award, Jerusalem International Film Festival, 2011
Nominations
The gripping drama Free Men evokes some of the classic World War II espionage films such as Casablanca or The Third Man. Set in 1940s Paris, this film illustrates a little-known true story of Muslim freedom fighters in a French mosque that sheltered many Jews during the War. Younes, an Algerian immigrant who survives Nazi occupation by selling black market goods is busted by the police. He agrees to spy on the grand Paris mosque and its shrewd Imam whom the Nazi’s suspect of providing Jews with false identity cards. This cat and mouse game intensifies when the Imam feigns cordialities with a Gestapo major. Free Men provides a powerful reminder of the struggle for liberation and how a group of Muslims helped Jews during the war.
France, 2011
Director: Ismael Ferroukhi
French with English subtitles
99 minutes
The riveting true story of a Jewish industrialist who saved hundreds of Dutch children from the death camps is recounted in this lavish award-winning WWII drama Süskind. Actor Jeroen Spitzenberger brings charisma and magnetism to the role of Walter Süskind, the German-born protagonist who flees to Amsterdam as the Nazis begin institutionalizing antisemitism, and as a member of the Dutch resistance movement, influences the fate of Jewish deportees. Joining the local Jewish Council charged with the devil’s work of supervising the organzied transport of fellow Jews, Süskind takes advantages of his role to protect his family and maneuver some 600 children to safety. When a weak-minded SS commandant played by Karl Markovics (The Counterfeiters) realizes that his cat-and-mouse friendship with Süskind has been deceived, the Nazis ruthlessly extract revenge. Exploring the morally ambiguous, sometimes treacherous line between traitor and hero during times of war, the handsomely-mounted Süskind was among the highest-grossing films in recent Netherlands box office history.
Netherlands, 2012
Director: Rudolf van der Berg
Dutch with English subtitles
118 minutes
Print Source: Seventh Art Releasing
Awards
Nomination
Their family names alone evoke horror: Himmler, Frank, Goering, Hoess. Hilter’s Children is a poignant documentary about the descendants of the most powerful figures in the Nazi regime; men and women who were left a legacy that permanently associates them with one of the greatest crimes in history. Among them Niklas Frank, son of Hans Frank and godson of Hitler, who despises his father's past so much that he has spent his entire adult life researching and writing negatively about him, often touring around Germany to lecture against his father and the Nazi regime. And Bettina Gring, the great-niece of Hitler's second in command, Hermann Gring, who lives in voluntary exile in Santa Fe, New Mexico and together with her brother decided to get sterilized so as to not pass on the Gring name or blood. These and many others, discuss how they have coped with the fact that their last name alone immediately raises images of murder and genocide; and how they have reached a balance between the natural admiration and affection children feel towards their parents, and their innate revulsion of their crimes. Some have been more successful than others at achieving that balance, but each bares, for the first time, the scars that their legacy has left them.
Germany/Israel, 2011
Director: Chanoch Ze’evi
English, German, Hebrew with English subtitles
80 Minutes
Torn apart by tragedy, a legendary band reunites to play an emotional final concert in the captivating feature The Ballad of the Weeping Spring, a stylized homage to spaghetti westerns and samurai epics, shot entirely in Israel but set in a mythical time and place. With a pervasive pan-ethnic soundtrack serving as the film’s backbone, the story centers on the brooding Josef Tawila (Israeli Film Acadmey winner Uri Gavriel), once the leader of a Mizrahi band (a unique musical form combining Middle Eastern and North African influences), who lives a hermit-like existence in the wake of a terrible accident. In a series of quirky vignettes across stunning exotic locations, Tawila brings together his old musician buddies to grant the last wishes of a dying friend, while healing his own tortured soul.
Israel, 2012
Director: Benny Torati
Hebrew with subtitles 105 minutes Print Source: Israelfilms
Awards of the Israeli Film Academy, 2012
Hava Nagila: The Movie is a documentary romp through history, mystery and the meaning of the great Jewish
Standard.It's to music what the bagel is to food – a Jewish staple that has transcended its origins and become a
worldwide hit. Bob Dylan sang it. Elvis, too. And that’s only the beginning when it comes to Hava
Nagila. Follow the infectious party song on its fascinating journey from the shtetls of Eastern Europe to the kibbutzim of Palestine to the cul-de-sacs of America in this hilarious and surprisingly deep film. Featuring interviews with Harry Belafonte, Connie Francis, Glen Campbell, Leonard Nimoy, Regina Spektor and more, Hava Nagila: The Movie takes viewers from Ukraine and Israel to the Catskills, Greenwich Village, Hollywood and even Bollywood. Using the song as a springboard its explores Jewish history and identity and spotlights the cross-cultural connections that can only be achieved through music. High on fun and entertainment, Hava Nagila: The Movie is also surprisingly profound, tapping into universal themes about the importance of joy, the power of music and the resilient spirit of a people.
USA, 2012
Director: Roberta Grossman
English
73 Minutes
In this visually spellbinding and critically-acclaimed coming-of-age story, a bewildered German teen is suddenly confronted with the harsh realities of survival, adulthood and her own hateful ideology in the grim final days of the Third Reich.Left to fend for herself after her Nazi parents are imprisoned, Lore (a knockout debut by Saskia Rosendahl) shepherds her younger siblings across war-ravaged Germany in search of refuge with their grandmother in Hamburg. Along the way, the children are exposed to the dreadful consequences of Nazism, and meet a young Jewish survivor (Kai Malina) who helps negotiate the hostile journey while calling into question their antisemitic indoctrination. Lyrical and intense, this understated adaptation of a Rachel Seiffert’s novel is directed by Cate Shortland, and is the long awaited follow-up to her lauded 2004 drama Somersault. All that she has been taught leads her to believe that he is the enemy, but his industriousness, generosity and physicality prove alluring. Australia’s official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, Lore is a coming-of-age tale set against the backdrop of a changing world, Lore shows new life emerging out of darkness with great intelligence and subtlety.
Australia/Germany/United Kingdom, 2012
Cate ShortlandGerman with English subtitles 108 min. Print Source: Musicbox Films
Awards.
One of American music’s great untold stories, A.K.A. Doc Pomus pays homage to an unlikely rock ‘n’ roll legend who overcame polio and poverty to pen the soundtrack of the baby boomer generation. Starting his career as a blues singer, Jerome Felder (better known as Doc Pomus) later reinvented himself as a songwriter, churning out a staggering string of Top 10 hits for artists like Elvis Presley, B.B. King, Ray Charles, Andy Williams, the Coasters and the Drifters. The Brooklyn-born son of poor Jewish immigrants, who was largely confined to crutches and a wheelchair, the spirited Doc never allowed private pain or personal limitations to derail a life of extraordinary accomplishment. This delightful documentary treats audiences to a treasure trove of performance footage and enduring music of the 1950s and ‘60s, including such Billboard chart-toppers as Save the Last Dance for Me and This Magic Moment. Interviews with collaborators and friends, as well as excerpts from his personal diary (read aloud by rock musician Lou Reed), augment this moving tribute to a musical genius, co-directed by former Winnipeger William Hechter and Peter Miller (Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story).
Canada/USA, 2012
Directors: Will Hechter and Peter Miller
Print Source: Clear Lake Historical Productions
No Place on Earth tells the mesmerizing real-life account of Ukrainian Jews who hid in caves to escape the Nazis, in what became the longest recorded (544 days) underground survival in human history. This fascinating documentary feature brings to light the untold story of 38 Ukrainian Jews who survived World War II by living in caves for 18 months. While mapping one of the world’s largest cave systems in Western Ukraine, ex-NYC cop and explorer Chris Nicola discovers signs of human habitation: buttons, a house key, a woman’s dress shoe, names scrawled on a cave wall. He spent nearly a decade trying to verify the nearly-impossible-to-believe rumours circulating that a group of families descended underground and lived in pitch-black conditions for nearly a year-and-a-half until liberated by the Soviet Army. Scrounging for food, water and supplies under constant threat of capture or entrapment, survivors recount their harrowing experiences while reenactments and archival footage further dramatize this amazing feat of endurance and ingenuity. No Place on Earth is an extraordinary testament to ingenuity, willpower and endurance against all odds.
Germany, United Kingdom, USA, 2012
Director: Janet Tobias
81 Minutes
Print Source: Magnolia Pictures
This heartfelt drama follows the story of a family drawn into crisis after the parents discover their child is secretly a cross-dresser and kicks him out of the house. Years later, when the father is dying of cancer, the mother hires a private detective to track him down. Instead of a "son", the detective finds a woman who earns her pay dancing at gay cabarets. Will the daughter now manage to overcome the past and forgive her parents? Will the parents be able to adapt to their new daughter? For the first time in the history of Israeli cinema, a feature film dealing with parents coping with their transgendered child. Melting Away has been conceived in reaction to the deadly attack on the Tel Aviv LGBT Youth Centre and shock of parents refusing to visit their injured children at the hospital. Melting Away is a sincere and moving drama of family, love, and understanding.
Director: Doron Eran
Hebrew with English Subtitles
86 minutes
Print Source: Go2 Films
Can one be a Catholic priest and an observant Jew at the same time? Twelve years after he was ordained as a Polish Catholic priest, Romuald Waszkinel discovers that he was born to Jewish parents, and that his name was Jacob Weksler. The grappling documentary follows his amazing journey from conducting mass in a church in Poland to life as an observant Jew in a religious kibbutz in Israel. Romuald is torn between two identities, between being Romuald Waszkinel or Jacob Weksler. He is unable to renounce either, and therefore is rejected by both religions and the state of Israel. He is required to choose.
Israel/ Poland, 2011
Hebrew, Polish, with English subtitles
Director: Ronit Kertsner
75 minutes
The World is Funny, Israel's box-office hit of 2012 and nominated for a record 15 Israeli academy awards, is a complex allegory on Israeli society, far away from the news headlines. Set in provincial sunny Tiberias, the plot consists of a collection of wonderfully strange vignettes that grow in richness and complexity as the film progresses. The central characters are estranged siblings who have endured childhood abandonment only to face new challenges in adulthood: a widower (Dani Shteg) whose older son has just awakened from a lengthy coma; a radio producer (Elli Finish) and his terminally-ill Russian girlfriend (Ola Schor-Selektar); and a travel agent (Assi Levi) whose daughter was killed in an army accident. These narrative strands and diverse personalities, co-mingled with countless others, initially seem unrelated but are gradually knitted together in a satisfying and emotional climax. Directed by Shemi Zarhin (Aviva, My Love), The World is Funny features vibrant cinematography, a noteworthy score by composer Jonathan Bar-Giora and stellar performances by an ensemble of Israel’s top actors. A passionate comic tragedy, this is a film about bereavement, longing and the power of family.
Director: Shemi Zarhin
Hebrew with English subtitles
127 minutes
Print Source: Israelifilms
Choose Five different films in advance
